The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-31
darl. ness t. darkness; but once In the ark, all

Is VIGIL. 'AJOn SHUT nm III.
There CT mes upon the good man deluSe OF
financial trouble. He had his thousands to
lend; now he cannot borrow dollar. He
onco owned q store in New York, ard had
branch houses in Boston, Philadelphia and
New Orleans. He owned four horses, and
employed q man to keep the dust Off lis
coach, phacton. carriage and curricle; now
he has hard work TO get shoes in which to
walk The great deep of commercial disaster
was D.oEen mp, and fore and aft, and across
the hurricane deck, the waves struck him.
But he was safely sheltered from the storm
"Fhc Lord shut him in" A food of domestic
troubles fell on him. Sickness and bereave-
ment came. The rain pelted. The winds
blew. The heavens are aflame. All the gar
dens of earthly delight are washed away. The
fountains Of joy are buried fifteen cubits
deep But, standing by the empty crib and
in tho de5olated nursery, and i'll the dole
full hall, once airing with merry voices,
now silent forever, he cried: "The Lord gave,
the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the
name of the Lord" "The Lord shut him ill.,"
All the sins of lifetime clamored for his
overthrow. The broken VOWS, the dlshonored
Sabbaths, the outrageous profanitles, the
mislemeanors of twenty years, reached up
their hands to the door of the ark to pull him
rounded his soul, bowling like q simoom,
ravng like an euroclyzon. But, looking out
of the window, he saw his sins sink like lead
into tho depths of the sea. Tie dove of
heaven brought an olive branch to the ark.
! The wrath Of the billow only pushed him To-
ward heaven. "The Lord smut him in"
The same door fastenings that kept Noah in
keep the world out. am glad to know that
when man reaches heaven all earthly
troubles are done with him Here he may
have had it hard to get bread for his family;
there he will never hunger any more. Here
he may have wept bitterly; there the lamb
| that is in the midst of the throne will lead
| him to living fountains of water, and God
will wipe away all tears from his eyes" Here
he may havo hard work to get house; but
! i'll my Fathers house are many mansions, and
| rentday never comes. Here there are death
beds and coflins, and graves; there no sick
ness, no weary watching, no choking cough,
no consuming fever, no chattering chill, no
tolling bell no grave. The sorrows of life
shall come up and knock at the door, but no
admittance. The perpexities OF life shall
come up and knock on the door, but TO ad-
mittance Safe foreverl All the agony
of earth in one wave dashing against the bull
warks of the ship of celestial light shall not
}
rage, ye seas! "The Lord shut him in."
Oh, what a grand old door! So wide, so
easily swung both ways, and with such sure
fastenings. No burglars key can pick that
lock No swarthy arm of hell can shove back
the bolt. l rejoice that do not ask you to
come aboard crazy craft with leaking hulk,
and broken helm, and unfastened door; but
an ark 80 cubits wide and 500 cubits long,
and door so large that the round earth.
without grazing the posts, might be bowled
i'll.
Now, if the ark of Christ is SO grand a place
in which to live, aud die, and triumph, come
into the ark. Know well that the door that
shut Noah in shut the world out; and though,
when the pitiless storm came pelting on their
heads they beat upon the door, saying: Let
me in! let me IMP the door did not open. For
120 years they were invited. They expected
to come in but the Antediluvian said:
"SVe must cultivate these fields, we
must be worth more hocks of sheep
and herds of cattle; we will wait
until we get little older; we will enjoy our
old farm little longer" But meanwhile the
storm was brewing The fountains of heaven
were filling up. The pry was being placed
beneath the foundations of the great deep
The last year had come, the last month, The
| ,
moment In an awful dash, an ocean dropped
from the sky and rolled up from beneath, ant
God rolled the earth and sky into one wav,
cf universal destruction.
So men now put Off going into the ark
They say they will wait twenty years first
They will have little longer time with thei
worldly associates. They will wait until they
get older. They say you cannot expect
man of my attainments and of my position t.
surrender myself just now. But before tn
storm comes / will go in. Yes, I will.
know what | am about. Trust me- Afte
u while one night about II o'clock. goin:
home, he passes scaffoding as gust o
wind strikes it and plank falls. Deadl ant
outside the ark! Or, riding in the park,
reckless vehicle crashes into him, and hi
horse becomes unmanageable, and he shouts
"Whoal Whoa!" and takes another twist il
. the reins and plants his feet against the dash
, board, and pulls back. But no use. 1t
, not much down the avenue that h
I flies as on the way to eternity. Out of th
; wreck OF the crash his body is drawn, but hi
soul is not picked up. It fed behind swifte
courser into the great future, Dead, and out
side the ark Or some night he wakes II
f with distress that momentariy increases
, until he shrieks out with pain. The doctor
, come in and they give him twenty drops, bu
3 10 relief forty drops, fifty drops, sixty drop:
, but no relief. No time for prayer. No tim
y to read one of the promises. No time to &c
single sin pardoned. The whole house
| aroused i'll alarm The children scream; th
+ wife faints; the pulses fail, the heart stop:
the soul flies. Oh, my God dead, and outsd
! the ark!
; have no doubt that derision kept man
u people out of the ark. The world laughed I
i see man go in and said: Here is q ma
starting for the ark. Why, there viii be L
deluge. If there is one that miserable shi
: will not weather it. Aha going into IL
a ark! Wen, that is too good to keep. Her
n fellows, have you heard the news? This ma
8 is going into the ark" Under this artillcl
$ of scorn the mans good resolution perishe,
e And SO there are hundreds kept out by ii
@ fear of dcriSion. The Young man asks hin
It self: Nv hat would they say at the store t
morrow morning if | should become Chri
). tian} When | 20 down to the club house the
It would shout: Hero comcs that new Christia
is Suppose you viii is,t have anything TO
1t with us now. Suppose you are praying nov
ie Get down On your knees and let Us hear "
J: pray. Come. now, give us a touch. W
10 not do it., eh! Pretty Christian you are"
N it not the fear Of being laughed Mt that kee
you out of the kingdom OF God! Which
these scorners will help you at the last! WI,
you lie down on n dying pillow which of the
will be there3 In the day Of eternity w
they bail you out!
,e My friends and neighhors, come in rig
il away Come in through Christ, the wi
,e door-the door that swings out toward 20
Come in and be saved. Come and bc happ
$ "The spirit and the bride say, come" Roc
NJ in the arl Room i'll the ark!
rs But do not come alone. The text invit
IN you to bring your family. "Come thou a
Of all thy house" That means your wife a
d. | your children You cannot drive them
st If Noah had tried to drive the pigeons a
ed she doves into The ark, he would only ha
I'd scattered them. Some parents are not "
"a | about these thinrs TheY mako iron III